good morning. welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc. i'm andrew ross sorkin with joe kernen. we have a lot to talk about this morning, including important news. the latest situation with the situation in syria. the team of u.n. inspectors is supposed to finish its work there today. yesterday, president obama and his national security team laid out their case for action against syria in a conference call with lawmakers. but here's where things get complicated. the british parliament voted down a strike and israel says it is unlikely to join as well. but france's president says his country can go ahead with plans to strike syria. all this is roiling the markets. oil dropping on news of the british vote late yesterday and you can see right there, things are slightly down this morning, but it is all quite marginal for

now. but i'm still -- i'm still trying to understand what we as the u.s. are now supposed to do with all this given what is going on internationally. >> i think about it a lot. i never come up with any answers. it is like i'm debating myself. i feel like i could do a good job on both sides of the debate, which shows you that it is a quandary for anyone trying to deal with it. i got to say, i don't -- i feel a little bit of empathy for the president on this. even though i don't -- i think we put ourselves in this position. >> we put ourselves in a box. everybody agrees we put ourselves in a box. >> if it is that we feel like we have to do something to just keep our credibility, that's not necessarily a great reason to go get involved somewhere. i still -- if we were going to do it, i kind of am with richard engel and others that say, if you're going to do it, have an objective. shut down his air capabilities, maybe tip the scales in favor

of, you know, the devil you don't know. maybe there is good people in -- maybe it is not all al qaeda. we know what this guy is now. he's a war criminal. he's a war criminal that should not -- if we don't do anything, we should at least put an international bounty -- not a bounty, but he's got to be brought to justice. he can't slaughter, you know, civilians, women and children, and andrew i was thinking there is a difference between a conventional bomb, obviously, and chemical weapons. >> because it is indiscriminate. >> but you end up dead with -- if you drop a big bomb in a civilian area where you know it is not done to try and kill soldiers, you've just killed a thousand -- you slaughtered your own people. these guys, like assad, he's like thinking what -- is there a problem here? >> i'm trying to stay in power, the rest of the world has a problem? that's tough. this is what i need to do gli

don't kn. >> if the uk decides they don't have the popular -- >> i'm with you. you sent me the piece that said obama -- it was a parody, it said, you know, i don't know if it is a good situation to parody, but obama insists to congress and trying to allay fear and insists this will have no owe jekt ibjective. unfortunately that's almost what it looks like. and then the question becomes we're trying to protect our credibility. >> yeah. and it is not going to. it is going to hurt. >> that's to me the big issue. >> all right. all of this does affect the stock market and it is the last trading day of august. it hasn't been a great month to talk about the dow off about 5%. but it is from an all time high, which was set on august 2nd.

year to date, the dow still up more than 13%. the s&p for the month is -- or since its all time high is down about 4%, it is up 15% for the year. as for volatility, the vix is now up more than 25% in august, but its numbers that still don't really raise any, i don't know, 16, 17 doesn't impress me. we got up to 25, 30, 50, during -- >> so impressed. >> not impressed with 27 on a ten-year or 280. i'm impressed with the move it made, but not an an absolute basis. for fun flows, some guy named lipper says investors pull ed more than 860,000 -- i don't know this man, but he's been doing a lot of calculating and counting. he figures at $863 million was pulled out of u.s.-based stock funds in the latest week, but that was still down from the

massive outflow of about $9.4 billion the week before. on today's economic calendar, personal income and spending is at 8:30 eastern. 9:45, chicago pmi. 9:45, isn't that labor day weekend? >> we're going into labor day weekend. >> isn't -- won't your labor day weekend have started at 9:45. no. all right. ours starts like everybody else at 5:00 p.m. today. >> i believe a lot of people are leaving at like 2:00 or 3:00 today. >> are you thinking about taking an early exit? >> no, i'm working a full day. i'm not leaving until midnight. >> ten minutes later -- at 9:55, that's a weird time, a final read on august consumer sentiment. >> courporate news this morning. the wall street journal reporting that preliminary work to divest the business by an ipo has begun. the business earned $2.2 billion last year, has $50 billion in

loans and $75 billion in assets. >> earned 2.2 billion. >> that's a big -- >> it is a huge part of the business. >> finance. >> also, the department of justice and s.e.c. now seeking information from several banks and hedge funds on their hiring practices. so this is not just jpmorgan anymore. wall street journal reporting authorities are focusing on hiring of relatives of well connected foreign officials with the intent of winning business. goes beyond the probe by jpmorgan earlier this month. u.s. anti-bribery law prohibits hiring any individual in exchange for specific favor or benefit from outside business partner or client. and speaking it jpmorgan, a story which i don't know if you read this morning in the new york times reporting on the bank's program, the hiring program. called and they named it, called sons and daughters. the program is said to have helped children from prominent chinese families -- held them to

a lower standard or helped them to a lower standard. well connected children were hired on a separate track to other employees. what is so interesting about that piece is the idea that jpmorgan originally created a program called sons and daughters to avoid this problem. the idea was we don't want to get in trouble for hiring people based simply on their pedigree. and apparently at some point the program warped. it morphed from protecting the bank and trying to only hire the most well qualified people to maybe something else. or that's the suggestion by some of the sources that were quoted in that piece. >> you could make the case that something that you wouldn't mind people reading about everywhere. now it has gotten to the point where you're embarrassed to read about it. >> i still don't know. look, it all depends on the quality of the people. if you tell me there is a kid who went to harvard and got --

went to harvard business cool school and this and that and is the son of somebody, they probably deserve the job. there are people who say how do they get to harvard and hbs in the first place. >> sons and daughters, not a sons and lovers -- >> sons and daughters. >> daughters. >> daughters, yes. >> the justice department signed an agreement with the swiss government that will allow some swiss banks to pay penalties to avoid or defer prosecution stemming from what now is a long running probe of tax dodging by americans using swiss bank accounts. it only applies to swiss banks not yet under u.s. investigation. and the nasdaq says that three-hour trading haul this week was partly the result of issues within the company's control. really? >> really. >> wow. did we ever think that wasn't the case? so they're copping to something there they are. >> that's nice. the company detailed some

earlier findings from an internal review. nasdaq blamed in its words a confluence of unprecedented events, like trading stock in the middle of the day, this overwhelmed the exchange system for handling price information. high speed trading played no role in the incident. it is august. no one is around. stocks trade in the middle of the day, every day. what was unprecedented about a trading day in august in the middle of the day. can you tell me, please? what was unprecedented? >> i don't know. >> we're back to casey stengel. >> pretty much. an e-mail that came in, i won't say, i can't say. i can't. >> there is no -- this is someone in the software business, famous, no term or metaphor in software or computers called extensive driving. if you remember, bob greifeld on the show saying we need to come up with better defensive driving.

you cannot outsource -- >> big software muckity muck. >> keep it to yourself. >> big gates. >> keep it to yourself. >> larry ellison. >> we have news on microsoft, no less, to segue to a big software company, though i don't want to suggest it is bill gates. microsoft reportedly -- >> just watching the -- >> okay. microsoft reportedly in talks to invest in four square. this comes from tech crunch. the reason might be the same as why microsoft pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into facebook. that was bing. bing competes with google and april toll provide local data and mapping and that's all of this is about from a defensive posture. >> that's from groundhog day. bing! remember the guy, every time he -- bing! whenever he steps in the -- whenever he says something to bill murray. >> you think whoever wroept tte

script is getting royalties from microsoft? >> i don't know. let's go back to the story we discussed at the top of the hour, which initially, andrew, the strike was going to come as early as thursday. today is friday. it could have -- that did not happen. the longer you wait, does it become less effective or does the chances of it actually occurring, does that go down. nbc's ahman mohyeldin joins us from beirut where people in that part of the world are going to be on tenterhooks for longer i would say, ayman, to see what happens. >> no doubt about it. a little bit of tension and anxiety here across the region given the fact there is now so much uncertainty if there will be a strike, when will it happen, what will the retaliation be. there is a soens of anxiety among the people. when we start off inside syria,

we have been getting accounts there has been a spike in food, fuel and medicine prices that's already reflebting the fears among the people there. nonetheless, the government is defiant, saying they'll defend syria, defend their territory in the face of what they're calling western aggression. the question is how that defense would look like. there are concerns that perhaps syria's closest allies in the region including iran and here in lebanon, hezbollah, they may come to the defense of the regime. if they did, that means the theater of the war may widen from beyond just syria to include some of the region's closest allies to the united states, including israel, perhaps turkey, jordan. that is the fear that many people here are waking up to. in addition to that, there is a growing humanitarian crisis. we have seen a spike in the number of syrian refugees coming across the border into jordan and into here, lebanon. so, yes, on the whole grand scheme of things, a great sense of anxiety and some reservations growing out of the fact that now that the uk has decided not to be a part of any military strike, the fact that the

germany has come out and said they won't be part of it, there are growing considerations that perhaps the international community is not as unified as it appeared to be a few days ago when the reports of chemical weapons were used starting to come out. inside syria, the u.n. inspectors on the ground are just finishing their work, expected to leave the country tomorrow and submit their findings to the united nations as early as monday. >> all right, ayman, the rest of the world, business as usual. we'll have a three-take weekend. interesting to see, andrew, you know, the stock market when this is sort of on the horizon. don't know how it will play out. we have three days. >> you don't want to leave -- >> that's what i mean. will it be horrible? let's look at the futures this morning. indicated higher. interesting if they were able to close higher. though earlier this week we were sure something was going to

happen and the market responded to what would be a -- by all indications a pretty short foray into military options in syria. the market dealt with it. now we walk that back and we'll see whether it actually happens, so the market able to trade higher for a couple of sessions. crude is down, will go the opposite way of the stock market, you would think, on whether there is less likelihood of a strike. the ten-year was all about the gdp number that we saw. though it is now backed off -- got back to 280, now 276. flip-flopping more than 2000. >> flop flopping -- >> more than the windsurfer. >> yes. >> the yacht owner. >> now the secretary of state. >> the secretary of state. there is the dollar against the

yen. we figured out what -- why the yen would go down -- or go up based on what is happening in syria. and then there is gold, which -- ralph schlosssteen. schlosssteen. >> merged families. >> yes. no one else would have noticed. >> i'm not so great with names. >> pronounced the name right, justify the wro just the wrong guy. new numbers released today show rising prices falling, unemployment, higher incomes and factory activity gathering momentum and in zurich, the story we were talking about yesterday, it is unbelievable. insurance -- zurich insurance group says its board will look into whether undue pressure was placed on its cfo ahead of his apparent suicide.

yesterday, the company's chairman quit after saying the family of the finance chief believed he shared some of the blame for his death. and it is look i don't even know what to say about the story. >> you don't know whether -- it could be that you're putting pressure on someone just to, you know, work too hard, work too long. >> could be. >> not necessarily you better hit the numbers one way or the other. do you have any update on the housewives of google or -- >> the housewives of silicon valley. we'll be talking about the housewives of silicon valley at 6:50. >> what was the thing -- whose sister is a big deal at google? >> sergi brin's wife's sister is a big deal and he hasn't done well by her, by his wife at this point. >> they say they're going to remain partners and friends in

their philanthropic things. that will be a program for bravo starting in the spring. time for the global markets report, ross westgate is standing by in london. before you tell us about what is going on with the markets with the red behind you, do you have any insight on the zurich story? >> no, we were talking about it on the show before "squawk box," as you might expect, andrew. and it is the way the story has come out as well, also come out in sort of dribs and drabs and it is kind of what people really concerned -- i think the good thing is what analysts have said is the way that ackermann was fairly honest about why he stepped down as chairman, actually in some ways was helpful because it meant investors, okay, at least he's not going because there was any concern the -- there were any problems with the numbers and the cfo hadn't committed suicide, which is being confirmed because there was

problems with the accounts or the business in that sense. in some ways the clarity of ackermann's resignation cleared it up. but what it has left is, for investors now, is -- because before the death of the cfo, before ackermann resigned, they lost the head of two units in the last couple of years as well. there is now a great need to try to rebuild the board regardless of what happens with this investigation. and, look, ackermann has come out and said, look, i don't agree with the allegations of the family. they haven't released what the alle allegations are. we'll have to wait and find out. but clearly not great for zurich. this is a business underperforming anyway in the insurance space in europe now for about a year as well. just more problems. the thoughts with the family as well and difficult time for everyone involved with zurich. we'll have to see what happens with more investigations. as far as these markets are

concerned, you rightly point out, more red behind me. 72 advancers outpaced by decliners this morning. and it follows an update yesterday. ftse 100 up .8%. trying to lose most of that today, down 30 points. the cac quarante, ftse mib very similar losses despite the fact that u.s. futures pointing higher as well. big losses for kpn today. america movil threatening to withdraw the bid for the company, the stock is down 4% at the moment. the threat to withdraw comes after kpn's foundation has taken up an option to buy nearly 50% of the company. the foundation says it intervened to protect the interests of employees, customers and dutch society as well. the foundation will have to re-adjust their position. zurich financial hit in the last

previous two sessions, rebounded 1.4% higher. back to you. >> thank you for that report and thank you for helping us try to understand what the whole zurich story was all about. coming up, attention road warriors. could skyping in 3-d soon mean, my goodness, taking business immediating e i meetings without having to leave your office. first, a look at the weekend forecast with the weather channel's jill martin. >> we have a lot of heat as we enter the labor holiday weekend, bubbling up from the south, all the way to the midwest. look at this. today, we're looking at temperatures in chicago topping out around 94 degrees. the average just 80. summer still holding on. should be pretty nice, though, in the east. in fact, new york looking at 80s. showers and storms in the south. we'll see rain all the way through the weekend in places like atlanta, up through d.c., new york, the jersey shore going

to be soggy for labor day plans as well. in terms of air travel, expect delays in and out of chicago's o'hare and midway later this afternoon. thunderstorms will be rolling through the area around the evening rush. new york, look great. las vegas, more storms heading your way as well. that's a look at the forecast. back to you guys.

time for the executive edge, a daily segment focused on

giving business leaders a leg up on all kinds of different things. here is the first story, the justice department is not going to challenge marijuana laws in washington and colorado. both states permit recreational marijuana use for adults. still illegal under federal law. the doj issued a list of eight priorities for federal prosecutors who enforce laws dealing with marijuana and including -- >> not allowing the sale of marijuana to the youngsters. >> in your history, i don't even -- >> what are you suggesting. >> do you want to weigh in on this at all? want to recuse yourself at the start? >> i don't even know anything about this. >> okay. >> i don't know why you would -- >> that's our story and we're sticking to it. here's what i'll say. here's what i'll say. given that these things are everywhere, even other drugs, i know the libertarian take on why don't we legalize everything and tax it and regulate it and make

sure it is pure, all that kind of stuff, same with prostitution, all these things, and it is a hard -- it is one those issues i could give -- if you assign me a side, i can take either side. >> doesn't this open the floodgate for any state that wants to do it now? >> yeah. and states rights -- more accidents would occur from going 20 miles an hour probably, because you are eating twinkies while you drive. but you want to make sure if you're doing it you're not going to be harming someone else in any way. that's number one. i don't think inhaling unfiltered smoke into your lungs long-term is probably a great thing for -- but then again, alcohol, alcohol might be worse overall in terms of -- right? and we tried prohibition and saw what happened there. it made for a great series,

boardwalk empire. >> but look what happened in amsterdam, usage is not as high as you would think. it is a tourist vehicle more than anything else. >> i don't think we should ever consider legalizing heroin or coke. >> i agree. but now that you watched breaking bad, what do you think about meth? that was not a funny remark. >> no. not funny. >> not funny. i'm not -- >> i was joking about the crystal meth. >> crystal meth is a debilitating horrible thing. but i like walter white. >> he's got some, you know, he's trying to make enough money for his -- >> don't tell people. >> you know the plot of the story, he has lung cancer, trying to make enough money before he dies to take care of his family. >> wall street journal, looking at the new health care law, this one is kind of interesting, why

subsidies may benefit older buyers more than younger ones. analyzing ohio soon to launch insurance marketplace. in the past, insurance companies charged riskier customers more. that seems obvious. older customers could flood the newly created insurance marketplace more quickly than younger people, that is what people have been worrying about for a long time. they're cautioning if that happens and younger people don't help offset the costs, prices could rise across the board and people have been talking about this since moment one and seems to be coming closer to reality. >> the obama administration is getting the hollywood friends to sell this thing. you need young healthy people to sign up or it won't work. >> that's true of most insurance programs across the board. whether it is health care, whether it is life insurance -- >> why would you, if you're not going to need anything for 30 years in your mind, why should you be paying that much more than people already using it.

>> why do people buy term life insurance? >> the reverse period where you're going to be difficult, but we'll see whether this works. i know you're pulling for it. it is going to be a tough sell and, you know -- >> i don't want to suggest i'm pushing for it. >> you're not an obama care backer. you're a huge aca backer. you are. >> somebody who would like to be able to offer health care across the -- >> there other ways of -- there were market oriented ways to do it that you could have passed with bipartisan support, break down the barriers of interstate and to take -- to take 20% of the economy in government -- >> i also think for all of the talk about free market and capitalism in the health care industry, i think there say lot -- >> not free. two insurance companies per state -- >> a lot of middle men and other things and got to be better ways to fix that. >> if we haven't cued up either the porn music for this story or

the weiner bell, get it ready. you could soon skype in 3-d. ♪ what is the feathers -- what is her name, leathers? >> you're sitting across from me. >> what is lerathers' name? can you imagine if anthony weiner could have been skyping with -- did they do the dig? >> no. >> you could soon be skyping in 3-d. we might get a -- it is possible that is going to be possible. the company that was bought by microsoft in 2011 is working for a 3-d version of its video ch chatting app. would make video teleconferencing more like real face to face communication and if he does get elected mayor, will he, and this works, will he ever have time for city business? ever? >> and be able to actually be

concentrating on helping new york. though apparently he was pretty quick. hes with able to -- he didn't spend a lot of time -- didn't take him a lot of time. where is he on the polls now? is he going to win now? >> he might. >> you probably like him too, right? you -- really? he's left of chavez. he's left of castro. he's left of -- he's so far left, he's could the back on the other side and he's right. are you kidding me? new york deserves him. i hope you do elect him. >> i still think a fourth term for mr. bloomberg would be a nice idea. you probably disagree with me. >> i wouldn't. in this case -- >> i hope it happens. you deserve him. you do. you see his ads. he's the only candidate that will take money from rich people, to make sure that -- have you seen that? >> i have. i'm not suggesting i like him. >> you just did suggest you like

him. you just did suggest. >> none of them are actually very good. >> what a motley crew. how many people are with you in new york city? like 16 million? >> no, not that many. >> in all the boroughs? >> i thought you were talking about just my apartment. >> that's on a weekend. with one of your -- but seriously, how many this is the group you got? you know who should have run? >> who? >> spitzer. he probably wishes he would have run for mayor now. >> motley crew. i feel bad for you. rough many for the bulls and some warn that september could be tougher. we'll talk markets in the economy when we return. inflation report of another kind. remember find a quarter under your pillow from the -- i did and i could never understand how my mother or the tooth fairy got it under there without me waking up. >> you knew it was your mother? >> i thought so.

loose change is no longer the norm, people. a new survey finding kids are getting an average of 3.70 per lost tooth this year. if you're giving out a quarter, you're being cheap. a 30% jump. the survey results are based on 3,000 phone interviews conducted in july. how much are you paying? >> you know the song? >> i don't. >> every night my teeth are falling out. it is the monkees. >> you take yours out with -- >> that's right. go ahead. >> as we head to -- >> take mine out. mine are over here in a bubbly liquid. >> back in a moment. ♪

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today is the final trading day of august. them week's focus obviously is going to be the jobs report. joining us is michelle girouard, senior economist at rbs and krishna numani, chief investment officer. i like that gdp number and now i've decided, you know, i've gone back and forth on the tapering because we saw it earlier this week with the durable goods. that was so crummy that the market wanted to trade up on that. then i decided good news, we need a better economy, we need them to exit at some point -- the sooner the better. i'm a good news, good news

person. i'm not sure the market is at this point. what is the employment part? >> i think it is the same kind of -- >> 175. >> i would be surprised to see a lot weaker number. nothing to indicate the conditions have really weakened up. some hints maybe things have gotten a bit better. i have to tell you, i don't think the employment report really matters all that much. maybe as much as the market thinks about tapering. i think of this as a done deal. >> in september. >> in september. it may influence the magnitude, maybe do less if we had a weaker report. >> what the most they do? 10 and 10, which the market looks at. they want to move slowly in that sense. you think that's a lot of -- i think, my god, oh, my god, 85 billion. we do 75 billion. i hope the world doesn't end. >> don't forget, the fed is still easing every month, they're just easing at a slower pace. >> what is already out there is still out there. >> exactly. the problem i think with

tapering is it is just -- the market knows this is the beginning of policy normalization. it isn't so much this particular month in september, or even -- this is the beginning of the end, if you will. the market is looking ahead knowing this is kind of the beginning of the turn. that's what the market is, you know, i think -- the initial reaction even back in june this is what it is really all about. >> krishna, is the economy accelerating from this 2% growth to 3% for let's say 2014 and '15. >> it could, but right now it looks like it is basically continuing the 2% pace for what matters for the overall consumer and housing and things like that. >> why would we taper? to maintain 2%, we need $85 billion a month, that's sad. >> it is, indeed. it is the after effects of a financial crisis. i think we -- >> five years later, none of

this is self-inflicted. we don't have too many regulations or too many new laws, too much involvement of the congress and the white house? >> i think if you look at the history, after such a big price, it lasts longer than five year. we'll be in this sort of time frame for -- this sort of performance time frame for quite some time. >> poem thieople think we're stn how many million jobs? >> 3. >> i thought it was 7. >> maybe the peak as opposed to the start of the -- >> we added how many? >> no, a little over -- like toward 2. >> getting toward 2. how many are we still down? >> i thought -- >> 3 or 4. how many different breaks are you talking about where we have historical -- where it has been that bad for that long? the depression is the only one, right? >> indeed, but you have had periods where we have had

financial crises in other economies. and few years ago, in jackson hole, few people presented a paper which basically said that this sort of a performance is to be expected. >> we don't talk about them anymore. they're discredited because -- andrew found one wrong number on a spreadsheet. nothing they ever said -- >> it was actually reinhart and reinhart rather than reinhart and rogoff. that's to their credibility, i suppose. >> rogoff wasn't on the one that you found the spreadsheet on. >> rogoff was on the spreadsheet, but the paper i'm talking about is by -- >> one final question, i know we got to go. this is from paul krugman, you don't always agree. wall street is paying too much attention to the ptaper and not enough to the looming ceiling of debt. do you buy that?

>> i think it will be bumpy and noisy, but we know how it is going. the republicans do not want a government shutdown, don't want a -- >> the boogieman of the republicans again. just a way of blaming -- >> i didn't get into that part. >> that's a way of putting it back on the republicans. that's all he does for a living. he's a hack. he's a hack. you know that. i know he worked for your company -- he won from stuff -- >> for work he did in 1980 when he's been a hack for the last 15 years writing purely partisan stuff. >> then we all are. >> i'm not saying that. something i know about. >> coming up, looking for something fun to do this weekend? our next guest has the answer and is trying to disrupt the tourism industry in the process. you got to come back and watch this. it is very cool. [ kitt ] you know what's impressive?

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welcome back to "squawk box." we're continuing our disrupter series this morning with a look at peek billing itself as a one stop spot for shoppers. let's talk about peek. i don't know if everybody knows what peek is. it is a very cool travel site, but that makes it different than every other travel site out there? >> we're very focused so peek.com is a one stop shop for travelers and locals to book great activities. whether you want to go out and buy a ticket for museum or organize a private tour of a winery or go swimming with sharks, you're a little dangerous in that way, you can go to peek.com and easily book these things online. >> how did you start this company? you have major big deal investors in this company, including people like eric schmidt and other profile names. >> i started it because i went

to istanbul for a weekend and spent hours researching in guide books and looking online to be able to find out what to do and then had to call all these people to be able to book the activities. i didn't understand why something like open table didn't exist in this space and i decided it was time to create a one stop shop where you can book everything you wanted to do online. >> how many cities do you cover now? >> we're in 17 cities, 15 regions in america and london and paris. >> and what is the ultimate upshot. do you think peek gets bought. you think of the company long-term, is this a company that becomes part of an expedia experience or trip adviser experience or do you ultimately become so big you buy one of them? how does this work? >> i think it is very much a stand alone company, i think. we're taking it one step at a time, so we -- >> how old is the company now? >> about a year old. we launched in october of last

year. >> have you gone to the site? >> no. >> you have the globe covered. how does that work? what are the leg work that needs to be done? >> we need to go out and find the highest quality activities, work the activity providers to make sure all of our customers get best price and really great customer service. >> so one of your employees -- you do one at a time or how many -- are you in other cities you don't cover now doing the -- >> yes, we are. we're currently welcoming on two new cities. >> can you tell us what they are? >> seattle and chicago. and we're working -- we do a few things which is we have a team of travel journalists we work with in order to get an idea of what the best things to do are. we also work with taste makers. people like diana von furstenberg or wolfgang puck will give us an idea of what they like to do in the market, things to see and do restaurants, great hikes. with that, we're able to create

a huge selection of the best quality activities. >> some day if i go costa rica and on one of those lines, you'll find the place where i won't be the one where the rope breaks at that time. >> absolutely. we care a lot about making sure that the experiences are really high quality and you can trust that. >> can you find a place to bungee jump on this thing yet? >> you can. you can bungee jump in london over canary wharf. >> i did do that. >> did you enjoy it? >> i was anxious the whole time. >> you still have the pants you were wearing when you did that? >> i don't know. >> did you have to throw them away immediately? >> tough thing to do. >> yeah. no. >> they still have the crane? >> yes, absolutely. >> scary thing. we should do that. >> oh, sure. not a big height guy. i'll do something else. >> maybe a tour of -- >> i'll put you in some of the bunkers we were in yesterday.

>> you're a former wall streeter, blackstone, goldman sachs. how do you like being an entrepreneur? >> i enjoy it. it is great to be able to build something from scratch and grow a company and scale it. it is a lot more fun, i think. >> think she'll be selling this company soon. >> nothing to do with making $100 million. just fun to do, right? >> it is fun. >> doing very well. >> thank you for coming in this morning. have a great long weekend, if you can. >> use peek.com. >> joe, what are we going to do? >> i'm sleeping past 4:00. >> that's a good idea. >> you doing the hamptons yet? >> not in the hamteptons yet, b i'll put it on the list. when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company.

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. welcome back to "squawk box". we'll have a gossip round right here. news of tf of the affair with aw employee, causes a shock in the valley. i was watching a youtube video with amanda, she's actually very good. she had done a marketing thing. what the heck is happening? >> this is the sort of thick in the valley we kind of hate being seen talking about, we feel guilty talking about, we're not that good with this kind of gossip. but we're in new york now, so it's fine. no, it's a bit uncomfortable, but i talked to some google

employees yesterday. my first impression was nobody's really going to care about this. there has been all this talk about eric schmidt, they're used to this, but because sergei's sister-in-law a google executive, some people are saying i hope this doesn't affect the atmosphere, affect kind of the talk around here. so that's i think the level at which people within google might be concerned. >> and what's his role with the company? co-founder and he deals with google blast. >> google x. he's sort of the moonshine guy. these are the projects that are just eating money at this point. they're not actual products. they're big long term ideas. driverless cars. >> he has a philanthropic foundation with his wife, that will continue? >> they are continuing to work together on that.

they're still -- >> a $22 billion courtship, is that the number? >> that's the best number we've got. >> my point is that this is incredibly mundane and boring without the $22 billion. that's the only reason that there is anything to this story at all. there was hookers that cost $3,000 that he had to collect the money for to pay for it as he was a governor. in you're saying we have to up our game. >> i'm saying this is someone in a work situation that has an affair with -- you know, if it wasn't for the $22 billion, it would be something that happens every day again and again. >> there is an extra layer. >> what is it? >> amanda's boyfriend or former boyfriend, he apparently left the company. why did he leave the company? >> well, what we hear is that he was planning to leave before all of this came out. but at the same time ser sgei a

amanda have been seen hanging together around town. >> while she was dating him or he was the former boyfriend? >> my knowledge is very low, so i don't even want to touch that. >> what's so fun any about this story, in most corporations, none of this would be tolerated. think about so many of the other companies -- look at mark herd who gets run out of town or not really. look where he is now. you put this in a different category? >> i think this might be tolerated amounts b little moreu might imagine. this is not the only executive hanging out with somebody in marketing and might be married at the same time. >> okay. pollyanna right here. thank you, sir, for the gossip of the morning. >> and coming up, the latest on the situation in syria. the u.s. said to be considered going at it alone in a strike. what does the public think?

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good morning and welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbcnbc. becky is off today, but she will be back next week. take a look at the futures. we do have green arrows with the dow looking like it would open about 35 higher, s&p 500 about 4 1/2 and nasdaq a little over 5 points. let's get you through some of the headlines. general electric now reportedly getting ready to spin off ge capital's consumer lending unit.

the "wall street journal" reporting that the move will take place through an initial public offering, could come as early as next year. the unit accounts for nearly 20% of loans outstanding for ge capital. also the world's richest map may be abandoning a $9.5 billion takeover deal. carlos slim's telecom company american mobile says it may drop its deal for dutch company kpn if an independent found sdags doesn't drop its opposition. the found daus was set up to protect the interests of shareholders when the former state run telecom company was privatized. and a handful of economic reports set for release this morning. pay attention to this one at 8:30, we'll be getting july numbers on personal income and consumer spending. and then later on in the morning, investors will get a look at the purchasing manager's index and consumer sentiment index and depending on how much money you spend, you can get that one early or not anymore if you remember that story. it's a joke but you have to be in on it.

we're continuing to follow the latest developments in syria. joining us with more, former congressman robert wechsler, president of s. daniel abrams center for middle east peace. good morning. what do we do? we were talking about it last hour. israel doesn't want to go in. uk doesn't want to go in. do we go in on our own? >> the president essentially has three choices in response to syria's apparent use of chemical weapons that resulted in maybe more than 1,000 deaths. and that is we can do essentially nothing. or we can order a massive military operation similar to what happened in iraq with boots on the ground and the goal being regime change. or the third option which is where the president seems to be leaning, which is a limited tailored strike whose purpose is to provide both determents and

punishment for the use of what is considered chemical weapons and a weapon of mass destruction. >> you say deter represeents. other people call it symbolic. >> it depends on the particulars of the strike. it depends what the central command offers in tampa will recommend to the president. but certainly a significant depletion of president assad's military capacity would be a significant punishment and would likely deter president assad to use chemical weapons again in the future. >> but there is a fourth thing. you said the second thing was regime change which included boots on the ground. a fourth would be not boots on the ground, but doing enough with what you just said, knocking out command centers, doing some other things that could tip the balance in the favor of some of the rebels.

could y you could do that, too. just so weird to try to go in here and sort of -- with the intent of maintaining neutrality. like you're not trying to do anything about the outcome, not taking a stand on who you think should end up running syria, to go in and deliberately say -- an andy borowitz wrote a piece that the president is trying to assuage concerns that there is an objective. we're doing this, but we have absolutely no objective. we'll make sure that we didn't sway the outcome of this conflict in any way. we'll just do something that makes it look like we've done something for our credibility. it's a really tough situation. and we'll look bad no matter what we do. >> well, it is a tough situation. but i would respectfully differ in terms of there is no objective or the conclusion that there is no objective. first of all, deterrence is a very significant objective. not only deterring president

assad from using his chemical weapon capacity again, but also deterring iran hopefully eventually to either negotiate or then there will be military decisions with respect to -- >> but a slap on the wrist. he'll say, all right, they don't -- he knows the u.s. public has no appetite for an extended conflict here. so we do a little bit, we pull out. why wouldn't he just do it again to force the president's hand to make it look like they need to come back and answer again and get more involved? >> these are the calculations that the president and our military will make. and these ultimately will be the calculations that president assad makes. but your point is well made in that if the president determines a military strike is warranted, then it is most prudent that that strike be strong enough so that it is not viewed simply as a slap on the wrist. >> but really not too strong to

are we actually take a stand and say -- see, i figured this guy, congressman, we know enough now to say there should be regime change. he's a war criminal at this point. so i know we don't know who would end up with some of the weapons and it's complicated, but this guy, he deserves to be out. stay with us. john harwood has the results from an nbc/"wall street journal" poll with the public. and, john, you can't -- a president needs to do what he thinks is right. you can't just listen to the public necessarily. but this doesn't harken well for action, does it, these numbers? >> it shows there is significant public reservations. and by the way this is an nbc news only poll. "wall street journal" is not part of this one. when you ask the public should the united states strike syria over their use of chemical weapons, you get 50% saying, no, we should not.

42% say yes. but then when you define what kind of strike it would be, if you say it would be a limited strike with cruise missiles launched from ships as opposed to boots on the ground, you flip the numbers around and get 50% saying yes rk, 44% no. you also get 79% of the american people say the president should go to congress for authorization. >> 80%? >> yes. right. and so this is a key point. the president, his advisers breached members of the hill last night, but the administration has not indicated that it feels compelled to get a vote of authorization from congress before doing this. they're consulting, but that's different from authorization. >> that other number is awful, too. only 21% think that taking action is in the united states' national interests. one in five think that it's in our national interests to do this. >> that's right. and look, i think, joe, on your

discussion with the congressman, we're talking about a situation where every option is a bad option. there are no good options. >> i know. >> and you talked about regime change. the position of the united states is for regime change. >> we said that. >> we are helping rebels. the distinction that they're drawing is this particular military strike is not intended to inject the united states into that conflict militarily in a way intended to tip the balance because if you then accept as your objective tipping the balance, then you're in for a dollar, not just for a dime. and they're trying to make that distinction. >> you don't necessarily -- mccain was talking about knocking out their air capabilities. the rebels are doing pretty well. that's why he got so desperate to use these things.

people think you wouldn't have do that much to tip the balance there. you don't need to send troops. >> but i'm sure you recognize, joe, as senator mccain does, there are a whole lot of different kinds of rebels in syria. and the ones who we are most inclined to regard as good guys are not the most powerful ones, the ones who have the most power and the most military clout are the ones affiliated with the bad guys. >> i thought the syrian free army was the main group. it's not? secular syrian -- >> well, there are a bunch of different groups. but as you know, this is not my area of expertise. but i believe it's the case, i believe the people who are experts on this believe that the portion of the rebels aligned w islamic extremists are the ones with the most clout. >> john, i want to go back to the congressman for a second.

when you think about the u.n.'s role in all of this and whether we'll be getting -- we should be getting a report from them at some point supposedly by the end of today, how much do you care about what's in that report at all? because i think there is some anxiety that the report may not necessarily say everything that we want to say actually. >> i don't think it's a question of what we want to say. what we expect from the united nations report is a factual report that provides to bol the united states and the world political body an analysis of what in fact has occurred in syria.political body an analysi what in fact has occurred in syria.united states and the wor political body an analysis of what in fact has occurred in syria. but we need to be realistic. assad delayed the inspectors for a week most likely for the purpose of covering up the chemical attack. so the u.n. through no fault of

its own was handcuffed even before it started. >> so we need the u.n. as cover in this? given that it seems like it's just us and france at this point, do you need that report as cover to do something? >> i don't know that we need the u.n. report as cover, but in fact the urp wi.n. will be issu report. so the conclusion of the u.n. will no doubt be a very important part of the narrative for the decision that president obama makes. i think that's clear. and what i would expect is that there will be enough factual information in that report to support what the president has already reported to congressional leaders, what the news reports seem to indicate. and that is while it may not be a slam dunk case in terms of tying president assad himself to a decision, that the use of chemical weapons seems to be quite obvious.

>> you have your tent kelacles the right people. what do you think will happen and when, if it happens at all? >> i think the president will make the decision to deploy military forces as he's described in a tailored and specific manner. i think the delivery will be stronger than some people suggest that it might. i do think that it will have the effect of deterrence. but this is a situation where there certainly may be unintended consequences and that is what the president is painstakingly preparing for. and those consequences that may be unintended involve israel, involve turkey, involve our own allies as well as our own circumstances. >> congressman, we'll leave it there. thank you for your perspective. john harwood, thank you for the report and helping us understand some of the numbers. coming up next, how will stocks react if the president decides to act alone on syria?

we'll discuss that. plus preview what you need to watch next week as we kick off september trading. and then when can time warner customers expect to see a football game? that's a question in my house, as well. we get you up to speed on your options and find out if the fiasco with cbs will end before the nfl kickoff or maybe the kickoff of homeland. "squawk box" returns right after this.

the labor day weekend upon us and for many market pros, that just means a shortened week. will this be a september to remember? good or bad i guess. our go-to guy is here in studio. alec young is a global equity strategist. jack, since we do talk to you so much about ge, did you have any inkling of this? i was kind of surprised, but i guess it makes sense to tra transform it into a more industrial -- >> this is the spinning off of the consumer arm. >> lead story in the journal today. >> it makes a lot of sense. i think it was clear over the last couple of years that their expansion was going to be reversed and they were fgoing

back to the root. they know that business. they're good at it, innovative. and think they felt valuation would benefit from being a more streamlined and focused firm. and i believe it has. >> i don't know. $2 billion. he's going to have to replace it quickly. you don't want to sit on cash obviously. they have cash. you never know what to do with it. buy backs or increases. is there stuff that's viable at reasonable prices that would help g chlte's portfolio long t? >> i think the answer is yes. they have a deep organization in terms of m&a work. and i think they have plenty of deals cued up, $1 billion to $2 billion. clearly their area of focus is oil and gas. and they believe in it.

it's a long term wave and they will continue that. >> where are you on -- so you were listening to the congressman and you said you agree. >> i agree with his conclusion, that we'll probably get a surgical tactical missile strike. i think it will probably be more aimed at degrading the chemical capability hopefully without releasing noxious stuff into the area, but as opposed to a regime target. so assad stays in place, but he gets the message that these tactics aren't acceptable and he's somewhat degraded in his ability to do it in the future. i think that's kind of what the market is expecting. no regional flare-up. no iran involvement. no mining of the straits of hormuz. the market took off 2% over that. once the attack starts, it's usually sell the threat, buy the bomb. once they launch, i think the market retakes what it lost. but again, there is always uncertainty here. >> but the market is short term

and it has no conscience and no morality. so it doesn't really care what eventually happens in syria. the middle east is the middle east. it's an annoyance in taking our attention away from the taper, the more important thing. >> in defense of investors, the middle east is uncertain and it's easier to digest it if you take it in bite size pieces. if you look out too far, you'll be scared and never invest again. >> so let's get back to the things that we can sort of analyze a little bit better at cnbc and that is a week from today, we get a jobs report. what will that show? >> i think what's in play is the size of the taper. the jobs report will indicate will it be 10 or 20 billion. if we get something -- >> if you get 20, do you say good news is good news, right the? if you get 20, it means somebody is confident that things are okay. >> the problem -- that's true. the problem is there is a

political overlay here which i think is that bernanke is committed to on his watch beginning the taper. because of legacy issues. that has nothing to do with the economic data. so if you get the 20 billion, hopefully it's just about the economy and things are getting better. but you can't help paying attention to the political angle. >> 5 to 10, you understand there's the political angle, he wants to get it going. and then the question is the economy great or are horrible. if it's 20, it's a whole different ball game. don't you think at 20 it signals that the fed actually thinks that things are actually much better than we think? >> i guess with the larger number, you can make that case. but i think the broader point is there are two things going into the tapering decision. most of it is economic, but there is a legacy and political angle for bernanke in my view. >> do you buy that? >> i think he's correct. i think bernanke feels the economy is stronger than the consensus believes.

and think he feels he needs to start the taper. >> for his own legacy or for personal reasons? what are you suggesting? >> i think he has a little more credibility with me than that. i think he's really trying to do what he thinks is best for the economy. and i think he believes that we'll see stronger numbers later in the year. and think he believes employment is stronger than the consensus believes. and he wants to get it started. he wants to manage the transition to moderating in the bond purchases and he feels he can do it better than many others possibly and he wants to get it going and manage it before he hands off to someone else. >> we'll get much more from jack and alec throughout the show. first coming up, miley -- i already knew about twerking. but she introduced to a lot of other people with her mtv music awards performance. that's it right there.

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welcome back. in the headlines, u.s. officials are expanding their probe of bank hiring practices. "wall street journal" saying the investigation which initially centered on j.p. morgan chase now involves several other banks and hedge funds. looking at the hiring of relatives in high profile foreign officials as a way to gain favor.

>> and does anybody use four square? pot belly has filed to go public. they operate 286 restaurants in 18 states and the district of columbia. best known for its warm toasted sandwiches. the ipo currently pegged at $75 million. >> you have to be confident in your product to call your company potbelly. i try to avoid -- >> it looks like take trend of $10 to $15 slightly better lunch kind of things. like a chipotle. >> will you get a potbelly? >> if you eat it for a while, you probably would. it's not weight loss material. >> in a more serious vein here, assad saying that the country will defend itself against

military strikes over that chemical weapons attack. u.n. inspectors will be leaving within 48 hours. what happens next is critical. richard engel joins us from turkey. since the last time we spoke, we saw what happened in the uk. we have seen an nbc news poll which sort of summarizes the feeling here. and one of the numbers was about whether we should go to congress or knoll. and americans even agree with that. president seems to be going ahead with it anyway. and i believe the notion is that we can pull off a kosovo situation, where we can accomplish something with a minimum amount of involvement. and that is deter further use of this because we hurt some of his capabilities, or we hurt him enough to where he doesn't want to do it again. are you optimistic about being able to pull that off? >> reporter: not at all.

i don't think it's anything like kosovo. in kosovo, there was game plan to push the kla in that case back into power. here we're talking about a much, much more limited strike, just a few punitive cruise missiles, maybe 30, maybe 50, i've heard different numbers in deams kass area, probably one wave. then maybe a second wave to see if the first wave was successful or not. and that would be it. that is not the kind of action that would change the dynamic in the war. one long time diplomat said all it would really do is poking the lion in the eye. if you want to go and kill the lion and you have a plan for what to replace him with, that's one thing. but to justage at a time him is a totally different kind of endeavor. >> richard, yesterday, i

actually thought of sending you what is kind of a parity from the borowitz report. almost sounded like it could have come from jay carney. and that is that the president will ally everyone's fears and assure everyone that there is absolutely no objective to this stri strike. we'll be out within two days no matter what. and then there was push back on the two days and carney said, all right, maybe we can do it in 24 to 36, maybe 12. it's not something that's funny. but reading it, i thought it just rang true in the sense that we seem to be doing this for our credibility because of something that we promised. >> i'm going to hit you and i'm going to tell you before i do it and i'll promise you it won't hurt. that's a very strange kind of way to get into a fight. >> right. and now at this point -- and

also the tiptoeing away the regime which i think been we've already stated that would be the bestout co outcome. but now we're saying we'll do something but get in there and not really favor either side here. he's basically now a war criminal. these are his own people. >> they won't say they're his own people anymore. actually if you say that phrase in arabic, his people, the syrian opposition now get very angry. they say we are not his people anymore, he is a tyrant who is killing syrian civilians. he's not our president. but that's of course a technicality. but is he a war criminal, i don't know if you've seen the latest footage that was on the bbc.

they documented an atrocious event. they were at a field hospital and then casualties just started pouring in. because of an attack that took place on monday, not very far out of allepo. and according to witnesses and doctors, a napom-like agent was dropped on a school. a lot of children burned almost right down to the bone. and another horrific attack apparently using a chemical agent. and this after all of the bluster and threats and and you would of tall of the we'll hit but promise it won't hurt out of washington. >> one of the things so interested in our conversation yesterday was the idea what people on the street in the middle east think of all this. you now that the british have said that they won't participate, now that we hear that israel won't participate,

what does that do to our credibility in that whatever missile strike we propose is all about credibility at some level? >> but why does it have to be u.s. credibility all the time? there is a reeal hypocrisy here. the arab countries want this to happen. but they can't say it. jordan wants it, saudi arabia ntd with awants it, but the lea says we don't want any intervening, egypt says we don't want military action. they can't say it publicly. they want us to do it and then generally what happens is once something happens, and it doesn't go well, then you're going to see the same countries through their immediate i can't say, which are a lot of state controlled, blaming the u.s. for once again interfering in the affairs of muslims and

interfering in the affairs of the middle east. so there is a catch 22 about the public opinion in the u.s.. when the u.s. doesn't do anything, it's weak and ignoring war crimes and human rights. and when it does something, we're trying to police the world. >> does it matter how quickly we do it? it's been at least now a week and maybe another week depending on how things go. does it matter when we do it? >> i think the longer this drags organization the more difficult it becomes. there was momentum. you could feel it a couple of days ago. now there is still some momentum because people are talking about a window between now and tuesday when the president leaves for europe and then on to russia for the g-20 meeting. so we still have momentum, we still think it's going to happen based on reports. if it doesn't happen soon, then i think the momentum has stopped and then it becomes a long drawn

out process. i'll hit you, make sure it doesn't hurt and talk to all my lawyers first. >> so politically if you're the president you think you need to do it before you get on that plane? if you're in europe when this happens -- >> there is no precedent. it might happen, but there is no real press departmecedent laun e unpredictable operation when the president is travelinglargest o forces, is it the minority? >> numerically it is by far the biggest. 80,000 men. there are many, many people who fight under the very loose banner of the fsa, the free syrian army pep b. it is more a combination of

different troops and different units that kind of fight under the same flag. sometimes they fight each other, but they are an association more than a hierarchy. but i wouldn't say they're the most powerful group. the other two islamist groups that fight outside the framework of the fsa, and they would be the al qaeda backed groups, islamic state, those are probably the most effective disciplined terrifying groups that are the van guard of the repel movement. so fsa biggest in numbers. not that organized internally. but the other guys are, the ones that are really on the front lines charging the castle. >> it's it tough to police the world. sounds like a region just better to -- days ago we said this is lose/lose. i don't see how that's changed.

richard enhe wigelengel, thanks reporting. and as we always say, be safe. for more, we're joined by richard hastings, macro strategist. we head the run up to 110 and then recently it's kind of -- that wasn't your ifp, was it? i thought you took that out. we had a run up, now backed off a little. what is that telling us, that at least it's not going to be an imminent strike? that's what i thought he was pulling out. all right. so we'll get back to richard. what's that? anyway, coming up in the next hour, we'll have affordable energy. talking about that, i think the hofmeist hofmeister. and then we'll talk a little bit about cvs. [ male announcer ] it's time.

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nascar is ab.out excitement but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans. we have richard hastings. oil, we ran up to 110. is this just a retracement us

expect or keying off the delay in launching a strike? >> a lot of overreactions. i think some people forget saudi arabia, they can ramp it up from their current 9 million barrels day up to about 12.2 million barrels a day within a couple of weeks. so they will overshoot on the up side and then everybody can blame on the down side. 50,000 barrels a day in july syria. estimates. problem is libya output is just falling apart. they're producing about 145,000 barrels a day. the stuff is not even getting out of the country. that's a reason why intermediate pricing is escalating and remaining rock solid at about 105 to 106. and that's part of it's not going to change. so you get a little bit of pressure. like a risk premium that goes from the lack of output from libya and it goes right back into wti pricing.

>> we've talked about this all week, too, that money just -- it sees something happening and momentum traders will get in and see if something goes on. >> they overshoot. >> no one even thought the suez canal was really at risk. but there are some scenarios if there was a reaction in the middle east to what we did, that you could foresee that it could do something. i think that's why people want to be long before it happens. >> strait of hormuz, why would iran have any incentive to make a move. they don't have it. iran won't do anything on their behalf. with the support of the eu and regional forces, they can sink the entire iranian navy within 48 hours. so that would be over. so with saudi arabia having the swing production, u.s. about 7.6

million barrels a day and increasing steadily, that is safe, secure, reliable. we don't have any pirates off the coast of new jersey yet. so with that being the case, how do you look at this $150 and $200 per barrel oil pricing scenario. especially if something spikes up, it won't lay us. >> okay. richard, thank you. still too expensive as far as i'm concerned. although gas still hasn't -- well, you wouldn't know. ask your driver. >> i will. we'll talk about another critical issue, but not nearly as critical. it is now getting down to critical mass in the cbs/time warner cable dispute with the nfl season now just days away. joining us from new york to spra explain what may or may not happen, jason blair. good morning. >> good morning. >> we are days away. what's going to happen? >> there is clearly an imbalance of power when the owners of

content and the distribute tors of content. today the content owners are winning. but there are risks for both parties. time warner risks alienating their subscriber base, but cbs also, their risk is that they pull the fe krechlt inc debate. the retrans rules were written when local broadcasting really faced a threat and cables were monopolies. in let's start with time warner. i'm a time washrner cable subscrib subscriber. >> so am i. >> i go to channel 2 and i get like cartoons. >> yeah, the star kids channel. >> how many people are leaving time warner cable? this is a question of how much of a grip do time warner cable has on subscribers. have they seen any loss in terms of subscribers? >> the reality is nobody knows.

but if you look at previous disputes, if you look at direct tv/viacom, dish network, am cnet work, the distributor can do a very good job of sustaining chush which you were by in-seincentii subscribers to stick around. have you you called up and asked for a it is cout discount? >> i might after this show. have you made that phone call? >> i've been over the air broadcast antenna which i haven't been able to get to work. but that might just be me. >> we'll see if i can get a free month or two of cable service. let's talk about cbs. on the flip side, what's happening to ratings, what's happened to advising dollars? >> the impact to ratings for the cbs broadcast network has been quite modest. and that's because the new york and l.a. markets are only about

3% of their total audience. the impact to show time is potentially much greater because time a warner cable represents about 10% of all show time subs. and as you know, show "timtime launching a new program called rayd donova donovan. oftentimes you never get the viewers back. so i think the pain is more acute at showtime. >> and local o and os are getting killed. >> most certainly. >> showtime should be glad a lot of people didn't say ray dono n donovan. >> it's getting very reviews. >> the first episode was horrific. didn't you think it was ridiculous? i couldn't get past it. i'm done. >> did you like it? >> i did. >> they didn't throw in enough stuff for you you? i mean, have you ever seen more

things in one episode to try to -- >> don't ruin it for people. >> you have the alcoholic, the father -- >> it was the sopranos meet -- >> do you really think there is someone this hollywood that can make a living -- >> it's the sopranos meets tmz. >> so jason, before you go, just help us with this. when do you think the situation is resolved? >> the conventional which isdom that it will be resolved in the early days of the nfl season. the alternate viewpoint is that the ceo is retiring at the end of the year, contract basically ends at year end. he's named a replacement. and this is an issue that's really important to him. so the question is does glenn britt try to have one last impact on the industry to try to

get a change -- >> and how close do you think we are from the sec jumping in? >> so far they have said this is not their issue. but the reality is that within the cable act, it clearly states that it is their issue. >> jason, thank you so much. we'll see what happens. >> i want you to watch it so that we can talk about it. it's just enough. when you see it, you with k. write down 30 things that they try to -- >> joe, we live in glass houses. >> i knew ray donovan. by the way. the actual one. coming up, how are will markets react if and when a military strike happens. there was this president named reagan that you probably -- >> i heard about him. >> you were a glimmer in your grandmother's eye when reagan brought back the country from brink. plus a preview of next week's big number. jobs report. checking the futures.

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let's take a look at a couple stocks to watch. intel upgraded from buy to hold. and pacific sun ware earned two

cents a share compared to estimates of break even. the company projecting an unexpected loss in the current quarter. that's a $4 stock. all right. so at this point you would tell clients that we'll get through this and that if long term you think the market is not overpriced, maybe it's better than the alternative? >> i think there are other challenges facing the market bigger than syria. as far as syria goes, history shows it doesn't guarantee these things are always unpredictable. by the time an attack is laufrned, stolaufrn launched, stocks will probably be better. there are other more fundamental problems, do we get the second half recovery and do we get the second half boost in earnings especially in the fourth quarter. revenue growth to kick in. i think that is what has us more worried. we won't say it won't happen, but for the first time in a long time, we're questioning whether that's a gimme and we're getting

more cautious on stocks. >> the ten year, has it already moved as much as it needs to near term? >> i think so. i think the consensus has moved to taper light. we get something in september, not too much. i think a 280 ten year prices that in. the question is do we get the recovery in the economy and more tapering, in which case yields probably have to go higher. but for now, it seems like it's baked in the cake. >> so market players, good news/good news now or do they still pine for more tapering? >> i still think you want the goldilocks numbers. not so strong that tapering is back in your face right away. >> hard tapering. >> yeah, like 180,000, high 100s, i think is just what you want in the jobs report. okay. thanks for spending time with us. jack, you're sticking around. >> i am. coming up, the nfl spending

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help wanted. super power seeks coalition partners for military sbi intervention in syria. >> must provide international credibility. military experience a plus. >> limited engagement expected, but regime change could extend time commitment indefinitely. >> british need not apply. for more detail, watch the third hour of "squawk box" starting right now. ♪ >> welcome back to "squawk box". first this business worldwide. i'm joe kernen along with andrew ross sorkin. becky quick is on vacation. joining us for the hour, chief financial economist at bank of

tokyo mitsubishi. we have to figure out -- what should we do? >> i'm off camera now? >> you're on camera now. >> that's right. plus we have union bank subsidiary in california, 400 branches. >> we can't do each branch. how many atms? >> i don't know. 422 branches. i'm not in marketing. i'm an economist. >> okay. good. but you don't need to be as long as you'll play one on tv. and we'll get to chris and jack in a minute. first, though, your morning headlines. >> here we go. dow component ge is reportedly getting ready to spin off ge capital's consumer lending unit. "wall street journal" saying the move will take place through an ipo and could come as early as next year. the yuunit accounts for nearly % of loans outstanding. the dow is now off about 5% from its all-time closing high set on

august 2. year to date, the dow up more than 13%. the s&p 500 down about 4% from its all-time high. the s&p up nearly 15% for the year. u.s. equity futures at this hour do put us in the green. dow looks like it would open up 25 higher. market will have economic data later this hour. personal income and spending numbers will hit will the tape at 8:30 a.m. eastern. the numbers are widely used as a measure of inflation. and an indicator of future consumer demand. and of course we will bring you those numbers when they hit the tape and instant brilliant analysis. >> everyone is telling me i have to get past the first episode. maybe i'll watch one more episode. i'm not optimistic. >> for those just tuning in, we're talking about -- >> tune in the at 6:00. fratto tells me i have to watch it. a lot of times maybe they're just -- i don't know if i can do it.

anyway, they're from boston. but you have an actual accent. these are so contrived. >> they're hard to do. >> well, i've seen matt damon and bren affleck do it, but they're from there. 50% of americans oppose u.s. military action in response to syria's use of chemical weapons. 42% support military action. however if you just talk cruise missiles, use that to define the attacks, you have 50% that say it is in favor. 44% opposing. however, 80% nearly said that we should get the president should get congressional approval before using any force. and this is the one that struck me. i don't know how 50% of the people can say use cruise missiles when only 21% said taking action would be in the u.s. national interests. so as there are with so many

polls, you can glean something out of it, because lot of conflicting things there. and there was time when the sun never set on the british empire. now the uk parliament vote to go stay out of foreign entanglement, declining to join with the plan for military intervention. and richard engel joins us once again from turkey along the syrian border. one thing i don't think we've talked about to get your viewpoint on, richard, is the likelihood that anyone else is drawn into this which if we at first, you know, positive posit that maybe the benefits aren't that apparent, we could put who are emphasis on the negative outcomes. do you think anyone is ready to do somethingapparent, we could emphasis on the negative outcomes. do you think anyone is ready to do something if we act? >> there are four main players in position to act. it's france, uk, turkey and the

united states. those would be the ones who would be in a position to act, publicly commit resources to it and go in front of their people and say we are doing it. turkey wants action, but they want something much more profound than what is being talked about. not a mission that would just be a slap on the wrist or a few cruise missiles. they want to topple the areregi and impose a different political order. france and uk seem to be on the fence and i don't know if they will go along. and then the united states now making its case, convincing about half of the american people that they should do it. but they want more steps taken, congress to be consulted. so we'll see. >> repercussions in the middle east, maybe iran, our relations with russia and china right now is not very good either. but aren't they all just

carping? if we did it, would you see an attack on israel for example that we've seen they call up reservists and the long lines for the gas masks, would anyone use chemical weapons on a country other than -- would syria go outside either oits ow borders? >> i think they're trying to thread this needle. could it expand, would hezbollah attack israel? sure. they fought a series of wars against each other. but would they do it because of 30 cruise missiles that landed on buildings that have already more or less been notified? probably not. but it depends on how far it goes. if those 30 targets dee lead to a destabilizing of the regime and there is an escalation, then we could see an international escalation. there is no guarantee that a limited military strike stays limited. what if one of those police si s

missiles hit as building that is full of syrian children or the government claims it is. you don't know exactly what will happen the next day. if it stays small, which the was wants to stay small, no, i don't think we see hezbollah risking its neck to take to the next level. but if it takes it to the next level by accident or otherwise, there is definitely a regional dynamic here. >> okay. thank you, richard. good to see you, two experiences today. now joining us with more on syria, senior fellow at the foundation for the defense of the democracies. do you have an iron clad great way to handle this, or it's just a lot of bad choices? >> we'll, i'm not sure there ar any great choices. obviously it would have been better if the president of the united states had made a case for military intervention two

years ago or even a year ago. i think it's fair to say that it's very difficult to rally the american people to this when the president himself has a very difficult time committing himself or taking the bully pulpit in favor of military action anywhere in the middle east. so i do think the united states needs to respond to this. it needed to respond a long time ago. i think you always have to keep your eye on iran. the iranians are certainly looking at what america does in syria very, very closely. if the president wants to maintain the credibility of an american preemptive strike against the iranian nuclear program, i think syria is where you have to look. >> i remember a lot of neo cons talked about iraq and how that would firmly establish how

serious we were and effect positive changes in the middle east. you're saying our credibility, we can't be bluffing these people and there will be positive benefits. where are the positive benefits from all this? they will hate us in the middle east no matter what we do. >> the positive benefits in iraq were actually quite substantial if you look at the iranian nuclear program. the iranians according to the 2007 national intelligence actually froze part much the militarization program. the mistake in iraq is it was actually us leading -- downing saddam hussein, the united states was more or less in a state of war for 11 years, 12 years before we downed him in 2003. you can't run away from power politics in the middle east.

i would argue you can't run away from the middle east at all. the notion that we can somehow abandon the region and all the problems won't come and bite us i think is foolish, i think that's what we thought before 2001. and i think to some extent history is repeating itself. >> if there hasn't been an iraq, what would the neoncons suggest we do, if they were in power and cheney and rumsfeld were still around, would we do shock and awe and regime change? and would we have a better outcome than we had in iraq with the rebels that are there not knowing which faction would win? >> again, i would say the problem in the iraq is that the united states left iraq. >> what would you do now? let's say you could dictate everything and you have the

military at your disposal. >> i would say you would want to take down every medical taker resource that the assad regime has. you want to intercede in syria before syrian society is completely annihilated. we should have done it earlier. should you have do should you have done it before the sunni society was cracking at the seams. before you had the interjection of a lot of military groups. as soon as sunni society started falling apart, you would have jihadists flooding in there. you need to stop it now. it can only get worse. iran benefits by this continuing. jihadists benefit by this continuing. the only people who don't benefit by this continuing are in fact the sunnis who could make a difference. >> would you have to do something in iran, too, in your view i would think, right? >> on the nuclear program? >> yeah. >> yeah, i think it's a highly

dangerous position to allow the most consistent state sponsor of terrorism to develop nuclear weapon. to give nuclear weapons to the iranian revolutionary guard core in my mind virnlg verges on id. >> so we should have done something in syria and we should do something in iran at this point. you know that we can't because of for whatever reason, the way that iraq has perceived it at this point, whether it's accurate or not, viewing it through that prism is clouding all of our issues. >> certainly clouding president obama's i think position. i mean, i find it a miracle that you actually have as many americans in the polls in favor of military strikes in syria as

you do given the president of the united states has never once taken the bully pulpit trying to explain why it's a very bad idea to allow assad to slaughter his own people and win. so the president of the united states can do a lot if he takes the bully pulpit. he can change the equation not only in the country, but he can change the equation in congress. president obama has very much refused to do that. >> this is jack. is that aggressive stance even possible for this president after two years of pretty much the opposite? is it even political possible for him to make that reversal? >> i doubt it. i don't think he can. i would be surprised, but strange things happen. once this dynamic develops, the president may find himself in a

very prickly situation. he may find himself in a difficult situation with iranians. but i agree with you, i think this would be an enormous reversal for him. so i suspect about that the strikes assuming though happen will be quite limited as the white house has already said and may it actually do more harm than good. >> all right, we appreciate your time today. coming up, we'll talk how attacks would affect global markets, would it push president obama to attack reserves. take a look at energy prices. if you're serious about taking your trading to a higher level, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 then schwab is the place to trade. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call 1-888-284-9410 or visit schwab.com/trading to tdd#: 1-800-345-2550

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the obama administration officials now talking with energy experts as the president consider as military strike in syria. we're joined by john hofmeister. john, help us try to understand

the true implications of what happens if the president pursues a strike. >> well, i think we've already seen the short term effects of that when we saw the spiking of the oil price that took place. the problem across the middle east right now is the oel industry is facing essentially death by 1,000 duck bites. what you yend up with in libya s all kinds of chaos in the country where the industry needs predict ability. it won't put its employees or assets at risk. so if there are issues, they will shut down. egypt has a serious problem with people showing up for work because sunnis and shias don't want to work together. and syria has never been a big producer, but syria has been all but written off by the industry for now. but you get over into iraq,

iran, so forth, and there is so much uncertainty that anything that happens, spikes that oil price and of course every time the oil surprise spikes, the economy gets weaker. and that's the real outcome here that the global economy suffers the high price of oil. and if we stay on this path, we're not going to have a very good decade. >> one of our guests in the last hour suggested you're supposed to sell on the rumor, buy on the bomb. i think that was the phrase. when you look at the price of crude, do you see it smpiking higher if the president were for pursue a polimissile strike? >> i think it depends on the magnitude of what happens and what are the consequences of what happened. if for example it triggers hezbollah attacking israel, if it's that serious, that becomes a very big issue because that may not be a stand alonehe exte

responds to hezbollah or iran, that's not a single event. so if this single event that the white house proposes starts having other national implications in the middle east, then who knows. can he bar the door. >> this is all taking place and we've seen the price in crude move over the past two week. if you were to take the situation in syria out of the news, and pretend it didn't happen, where do you think the natural price for crude would be based on just sort of broader economic forces in place right now? >> i think where the u.s. increase, with the saudi excess capacity, we're really pushing to keep -- there are some at opec push to ing to keep the oi price as high as it is. i think it would go down. because there is not enough strength in the global economy with china going through its debt issues and so forth to

really push the price from a demand standpoint. the supply is the issue. u.s. demand remains weak. europe grand is weak. so frankly this would be a wonderful opportunity to start shifting the industry to plan b. and that would be u.s. dominating the global supply of nags gas, using natural gas as a transportation fuel, get off this reliance on the middle east. >> do you you see a time anytime soon where we tap the strategic petroleum reserve? >> i think only if price really spikes at the pump. i think there is enough populism in this administration that they would use strategic petroleum reserve to affect price. >> what would the number have to reach? >> i think probably in the $5 region, high $4s, $5, then i

think we'd see a release of the reserve in order to try to placate consumers and take some of the angst away. but it would not solve the problem. it would just be a band-aid on a much bigger problem which is where are we going with the industry in this country. and that's not going to get resolved in my opinion during this administration. p. >> what do you estimate the margin marginal cost to produce the newen conventional fields in the u.s. and how much does that factor into the fundamental floor on oil prices? >> it depends if you're in a so-called sweet spot in a reservoir or outside the sweet spot. if you're in a swreet spoweet spot, it's good and the supply is rich that it drops quickly. but it's outside the sweet spot where i was told this just this past week, you're probably very near the $90 a barrel range to try to develop outside the sweet

spot in the shale formations. >> john, we'll leave it there. thank you for the conversation. help us understanding what's going on here. coming up, personal income and spending numbers hit the tape at 8:30. we'll bring you market reaction. and a big settlement for the nfl. the league agreeing to pay former players $765 million to settle concussion lawsuits. but is it enough? we'll talk to a sports business professional who says they got off cheap. creening tools, and guaranteed 1-second trades. and at the center of it all is a surprisingly low price -- just $7.95. in fact, fidelity gives you lower trade commissions than schwab, td ameritrade, and etrade. i'm monica santiago of fidelity investments, and low fees and commissions are another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account.

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welcome back. let's take a look at stocks on the move. a patchy corporation shares jumping. they sold a 33% stake in its egypt operation to sinopec.patc jumping. they sold a 33% stake in its egypt operation to sinopec.ey c jumping. they sold a 33% stake in its egypt operation to sinopec. cor jumping. they sold a 33% stake in its egypt operation to sinopec. helping reduce its exposure. and salesforce.com posted a profit of 9 cents per share. strong demand from corporate customers prompted them to raise full year forecasts. and krispy kreme saw rising sales but also increased expenses. i haven't eaten enough of those this quarter. we're just a few minutes away from personal income and spending numbers. take a look at u.s. equity futures.

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and investment companies."

. welcome back. we are just seconds away from personal income and spending

data. rick santelli is standing by at the cme and steve liesman has graced us, this is now the third day. we're gratified by his great attendance this week. rick, we are ready to get -- no fishing available? let's get to the numbers, please. >> personal income increases half expectations, up one tenth. spending up one tenth. that's about a third of what we were looking for. and there was only a subtle revision on last month meaning june spending. now stab stands up 0.6. whether the deflator at 110, you know, i guess that's important. it's close to expectations.tab . whether the deflator at 110, you know, i guess that's important. it's close to expectations.ab s. whether the deflator at 110, you know, i guess that's important. it's close to expectations.b st. whether the deflator at 110, you know, i guess that's important. it's close to expectations. sta. whether the deflator at 110, you know, i guess that's important. it's close to expectations.stan. whether the deflator at 110, you know, i guess that's important.

it's close to expectations. year over year, 1.4. managed expectations, but hotter than our last look at 1.3. i don't know. in the end, i don't know that this number will give you any keys to the kingdom. but i'd like to seat iseat incoe numbers rise dramatically. we looked at deterioration actually. interest rates 76 to 75. slightly up in equities. dollar is firming up at an important level which means the euro is weakening. but the follow-through of late, that they have been at these levels before. of course we still have chicago purchasing managers surveyed and everybody is talking aggressively about how the great numbers in europe on confidence are at two year highs. absolutely important. but most of the research i've been looking at of late dictates confidence mostly gets its cue from stocks and stocks don't have a lasting impact on that

second tee arriderivative relat much after a few moments in time. and of course we have our own version on the confidence side, final july read, most looking for that to slightly improve to around 80.5. back to you. >> for more on the data, steve, do you see in the devil in the details, anything that -- >> so i shouldn't provide any analysis? >> no. that's his job. >> wages and salaries declining by 0.3%. now, the analysts might suggest that has something to do with the hours worked going down because we had more -- that's for the analyst to do. but it's a big drop. trying to figure out when we had a drop of 0.3%. i'm sure -- the consumption numbers were negative on durables and positive on nondurables. savings rates settled in at

4.4%. we were interested in what that level was for people. we've had that running right at that level 4.5% or so for the past several months. yes, people are kind of comfortable with that level. remember, it was negative before the financial crisis. one other thing which is the inflation numbers, no progress towards the fed -- a little bit of progress towards the fed's goal. we went up from 1.3% to 1.4% on the price index. the core rate going from 1.1 ps to 1.2%. so still a ways to go. inflation ticking up a bit. a dig disappoint on wages and salaries, but that's for the analyst. >> yeah, the -- >> way to deliver. >> in economics, the theory, although i'm a business economist now on the street, the theory is this period's income becomes next period's consumption. so why bother to look at income at all. people like the savings rate and stuff. but what focus on usually is just -- well, all the time is

just what spending is doing. so number one, this is july data. we want to know how july is proceeding to get at what is a third quarter going to do. and so we look at real consumer spending. i don't know if you ever the number there. >> i'll get it for you. >> it looks like things are kind of slow this quarter. but i think ford has said that car sales are going above 16 million in august. so this is july data. august could be quite a strong number for spending. >> spending was flat. >> so spending has been pretty weak april, may, june, july now. but i think it will come roaring back with car sales above 16 million in august. the other thing, deflator seems disappointing. you're saying it's -- >> what number do you want? >> core pce. it was 1.2%. you're saying -- sounds like they revised it down to 1.1%.

>> sorry, i was reading you the market based quarter. i didn't even do the job i was given. let alone the analysis. it's 1.2. >> i was afraid of that. >> in my head i'm still on the south fork of the snake. >> anyway, 1.2% doesn't get up to 2% very easily. >> it's not on the way there. i'm still looking for the last time we did -- by the way, inflation adjusted wages disposable income minus 03 on the nominal side. do you think that's hours wor d worked? >> only thing i can think about wages is what will happen to those fast food workers. what was the outcome of that. weren't they on strike the other day? wages and salaries aren't so good for some workers. and many workers actually. even corporate america. >> we're coming off a 2.5 and i saw some guys marking down the

third quarter because one of the reasons why we had better than expected rye vision yesterday was because inventories. more inventory accumulation, but remember growth in inventories and now people saying that won't happen so much in the third quarter like where e expected. >> it was 1.8% in the last quarter, gdp 2.5. you want to know will it accelerate to 2 something or fall back to 1. the way we're starting out in july sounds like something more like 1.5, 1.4. it's not starting out great just looking at july. but again, august is supposed to be up a month from now due to car sales. >> i went to target yesterday and the back it school stuff was insane, but i don't know that that's what it -- >> what were you getting? >> i was buying a couple knap sacks actually for myself.

but that's another story. >> is it an interesting story? >> no. >> in keeping with most of your report. >> yes. >> what about gdp -- >> do you wonder why i don't come into the office? it's this kind of abuse that i get. >> what about gdp, 2014? >> the fed has 3.3%. those 19 people. >> and you're 2.222? >> since 1999, we've only run 3% gdp in three years. maybe something is different like the baby boom is retiring. >> that would be enough to -- >> fed will mark down and taper at the same time. if it does taper in september, it will mark down its forecast. >> to get out, they have set some pretty optimistic numbers. they have to get out whether the

numbers aren't optimistic or not. >> i don't know. the fed chairman is very concerned about underemployment in the country, people working part final who want full-time. >> so we could just stay permanent -- >> if we get a new fed chairman -- >> we laughed at qe 15, qe perpetual. >> they will spin a story of improvement from when they launched qe-3. they will say from the time in september 2012 when we started it, x, y and z has happened and that shows the improvement towards where we wanted to be. they will say there is further to go. and that's if by the way the numbers are in line. if we do another zero on spending, which i think you're saying is not in the cards, but if we did, that would really put a one handle on growth, that would be something that would not be -- it would be tough for the fed to taper. >> in the old days, as well, as much as i want to get away from it, they always say we don't look at the jobs report every month, but i think they do. the jobs report could be very

important. a lot of those fed members want 200,000 for payroll jobs. if we don't get it, maybe they back the chairman and -- >> next week is a very big week. the adp where they're looking for almost 190 on the private payrolls. 175 or so is the outlook for jobs with an unchanged -- we have the isms coming up and a whole bunch of other stuff. durable goods about that so pretty decisive for the federal reserve. >> you mentioned that you focus on the spending side. and the up in numbers we got were stronger on the consumer side. we know durables is usually a pretty volatile number.stronger. we know durables is usually a pretty volatile number. where do you think we'll finish the year for real consumer spending? >> we've as well be running 2%. the strange thing about consumer spending is they're saying right now that we're not spending a lot on services, haircuts, vacations. i'm still getting my hair cut. well, you know, i'm still getting my hair cut, taking

vacations. consumer spending was very normal, like 3% plus. and they came through two months ago and said, no, people aren't spending on services. so i don't know what that was about. i would think something like 2% again. the run rate seems to be like 2%, 2.5%. >> are you seeing the impact of the sequester fading or yet to come? >> that's interesting because when did he sign the order, march 1? second quarter, it only subtracted 0.1 from gdp. >> we're up to 0.9% for the year for federal government i think. >> i'd have to guess that it's going -- mandatory spending cuts keep tightening, tightening. it will be a factor next year, as well. >> you'll have more next year. >> yeah, it's still going. >> that's a very good point. >> if they don't shut the government down. >> in which case it's even more. coming up, the nfl reaching

a $765 million settlement over concussion related brain injuries days before the start of the season. we'll talk to a sports business professor who says the nfl got off cheap. [ male announcer ] it's time. time to have new experiences with a familiar keyboard. to update our status without opening an app. to have all our messages in one place. to browse... and share... faster than ever. ♪ it's time to do everything better than before. the new blackberry q10. it's time. the new blackberry q10. she loves a lot of it's what you love about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph,

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with their probabilities throughout the day. [ male announcer ] open an account and get a $150 amazon.com gift card. call 1-888-280-0149 now. optionsxpress by charles schwab. welcome back. nfl settles a concussion lawsuit just ahead of the kickoff for

the 2013 season. joining us now is patrick risch, sports business professor, forbes contributocontributor. sounds like a big number, it's not compare to the number that we're talking about with nfl. >> sure isn't. >> but lately we're hearing that the effects of concussions have been clarified more. for me, i think anyone that plays this game thinks of themselves as kind of a warrior. maybe we didn't know about early onset parkinson's and things like that, but knew pretty well that there were some serious -- there could be serious problems down the road if you play this had game and you made a choice to play it. >> you're taking the line from the godfather. this is the profession that we've chosen. but no one knew going back 20 years ago what some of the cognizant repercussions were. and the claim and the issue that the players were making all this time was that the nfl did know,

did have some evidence and the mike webster example -- >> they're saying nobody knew? >> 20 years ago. but since then, the last 5 to 20 years, the nfl has done the research -- >> only the nfl knew? >> other organizations have done research, but i believe and certainly the players' lawyers argued that there was information not being shared. mike webster, the hall of fame center for the steelers, the nfl gave him a settlement 10, 15 years ago and they admitted at that time that there were issues with concussions. >> probably not a shock that a business would try to at least downplay it. knowing human nature. but also not a shock that the settlement might sort of end it here in terms of when they knew. but again, protecting the business. but not a shock that they would try to do that. >> protecting the business absolutely. >> what would be an appropriate number? if you think they're getting off so cheap --

>> this whole example is a situation where vocational economist would have a field day because this is what they do, they analyze what is the economic damage from cognitive or physical injury. but guys, the nfl will receive $28 billion between 2014 and 2022 from cbs, from fox, from nbc. this settlement only represents less than 3% of just that media revenue and we aren't even talking about money from espn and direct tv. so the correct answer, gosh, i don't know. it could have been double or triple. so it was very strategic and wise for them to settle. >> what is the liability not just for the league and potentially the teams which are part of the league, what about the doctors in all of this? people say the nfl is awful, the nfl is awful, but i assume there were doctors who participated in this who to the september you actually believed were telling the players what they were supposed to know, what is their liability? >> all i can say is this, one of

the major scandals that came out of this was you had a rheumatologist that was in charge of the nfl's concussion committee. that doesn't make sense. so again, i can't answer the specific yes, but obviously there -- >> players have their own doctors, as well, though. >> no question. >> i have a person about al doc. what are those doctors do something. >> i'm sure there were players in this group of 4500 that were maybe trying to take advantage of the situation. maybe some are not comignitivel damaged. but if take you that dollar amount and divide it by the 4500 players in the lawsuit, that's $150,000. there will be some guys that will have that kind of damage. they won't be able to work because of dementia, because of us a ti

and you al always ti a aleheimer's. >> so has it been solved? >> it's a positive movement. now guys are getting hit in the knees and would rather get hit in the head. >> people are saying the hits that used to be clean are now no longer clean. and you're trying to balance out -- goodell has a tough job. >> ex-players arerustrate that had they're taking away the physicality, but because of the legality of the situation, getting rid of this public relations migraine, they have done it with this settlement. >> and on top of everything else, you have the incredible love of the game and a football season and of the whole -- everything about it in this country for football that is so overriding along with the money that's involved help. >> the money is there because of

the scarcity. i contend that football is the most popular sport because there is scarcity. >> and for tv, no dvr play backs. >> live is what it is. >> that's right. drawing it those 18 to 45 demos. >> i heard you say people say the nfl is awful, the nfl is awful. again, i'm asking where are your people that are -- is that in the city people are saying that? >> what are you talking about? new york city? >> you you paraphrased one of your -- >> if you're a jets fan you're saying it's awful. >> people say the nfl is awful, the nfl is awful, and then you went to the doctor about maybe it's the doctors. who are the people saying the nfl is just awful? >> the people who brought the lawsuit against the nfl. how about the players, how about their parents. >> i just think that's a viewpoint, but it's sitting in a specific place. there is another viewpoint that

says -- >> the players want to play. >> all opinions depends on where you sit. >> but i'm actually sitting in a place where i'm not sure where i want to sit on this because -- >> and other people are saying that. >> part of me says if you're a boxer and you're going to get hit, that's what the deal is. >> which part of you? >> your career only lasts a certain period of time. my career will only last a certain amount of tile. >> and look at the head injuries that you've succumbed to from me every day. >> i may have to step in between before there is more. /@ to the point that you just made, again, guys know that they will get hurt. they know that they have short careers, but i don't think they knew about the long term -- >> and that's the issue. >> and the question is who knew and did the organization that had an inkling that this was --

i think most people knew this. we've known about mohammed ally and a ali and all the stuff with fighters. to see there are long term effects was not a big revelation. >> not a revelation, but i'll say this. i wonder whether they had information because would they have settled if they didn't. >> exactly. okay. >> for anyone suffered jet lag, there is hope for a cure. we have that story when we return. but before we head to a break, we have to wish warren buffett a very happy birthday this morning. the oracle of omaha turning 83 years young today. and warren who we hope is watching this morning, happy birthday. here at fidelity, we give you the most free research reports, customizable charts, powerful screening tools, and guaranteed 1-second trades. and at the center of it all is a surprisingly low price --

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welcome back to "squawk box." found clues that could some day lead for a cure to jet lag. researchers from britain's oxford university found a genetic mechanism in mice that hamper their body's ability to adjust to changes in pattern of light and dark. when scientists blocked that genetic mechanism mice recovered

faster from disturbances in their daily life and dark cycle and it mimicked mouse jet lag if a corresponding mechanism can be found in humans it could lead for a cure in jet lag as well as other disturbance problems. >> when people talk about curing jet lag it doesn't make any sense to me. when you take a flight from here to hong kong -- >> it's going to be the middle of the night. >> you're going to get there, middle of the night. you've probably slept on the plane there if you're able to sleep. >> i think a couple of days later you can feel it. >> i understand. maybe you can improve that a little bit. by default, you're tired. you are on a plane. if you're in coach, it's even worse. >> you don't think it's nice that at least mice are now going to be alert if they travel. >> i'm happy for all those mice. >> i'm leaning coach in the middle seat. >> you will find a negative point of any story. we tried to make that a feel good forstory. carl icahn feeling good

because we just raised his stake in nuance to more than 16%. the investor considering putting up a slate of nominees for the company's board and just a little bit of insight because i've been doing a little bit of reporting around this. ultimately, nuance is a takeover target. nuance has been a takeover target for many years. for those of you who don't know what nuance is it provides the speech, voice recognition software, licenses that software to companies including apple. it is behind things like siri and others that use that kind of stuff where the dragon, if you ever use dragon talk on your computer. that's what it is. google has its own. ultimately i think what carl is trying to do here is tee this thing up so that his new friend, tim cook, will buy the company. coming up, we'll have the last word from our guest host. you've got some french, you say? >> unfortunately, yes. a little bit.

nascar is ab.out excitement but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans. (announcer) at scottrade, our clto make their money do more.re (ann) to help me plan my next move, i take scottrade's free, in-branch seminars...

plus, their live webinars. i use daily market commentary to improve my strategy. and my local scottrade office guides my learning every step of the way. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade... ranked "highest in customer loyalty for brokerage and investment companies." let's get back with our guest host. >> we haven't spent much time in the markets. >> make it fast. we've got 20 seconds. >> okay. you and i remember the desert

storm environment. >> it came down quickly. >> started going up sharply, as soon as some action. the fundamentals in the economy are strong. so i think we're -- >> all right, good. chris? >> i'd like to see fed normalize interest rates. keep things down for 2016? >> thank you. >> happy labor day. >> have a great long weekend. join us on tuesday. "squawk on the street" begins right now. ♪ good friday morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanilla with kelly evans of the new york stock exchange along with mike santoli, senior columnist at yahoo! finance. faber and cramer are turning this weekend into a five-day weekend for david. good for them. futures like any great actor are asking what's my motivation today as likelihood of a strike on syria still very unclear. personal spending, barely rising. we're going the close out the month of august today thankfully barring a